


Waking Up To The Start Of The End of The World

by Deathraptor22



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Car Accidents, Drama, Gen, Multi, Mystery, No Such Thing As Happenstance, Other, doomsday preppers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26290285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deathraptor22/pseuds/Deathraptor22
Summary: After being ran off the side of the road and injured while on the way to retrieve a suspect , Malcolm and Dani are rescued by a reclusive family. Hopefully better than it sounds.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Incident On The Road

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, just assume I don’t own it. Prodigal Son is property of Fox which frankly, should worry us all.  
> AN: Three things.  
> 1\. For a reference point, this takes place sometimes within season one, well before finale.  
> 2\. I’m not sure how often this will be updated, but it will get done, and in a timely manner.  
> 3\. This is my first time writing for this show, so, sorry if people are off.  
> 4\. Stay safe out there and God bless! Hope you like this.

“This makes no sense.” Malcolm mused again from his spot in the shotgun seat of Dani’s car, his nose in the casefile.  
“Yeah, I heard you the first hundred times.” Dani responded, her eyes glancing over to him before quickly darting back in the road. The highway they were traveling on was desolate, no other cars at the moment, save for one behind them that kept swerving, each side lined with somewhat dense woods. It was honestly giving Dani the creeps. It didn’t help that, while she was sure they would catch up eventually, they had lost Gil and JT some time ago.  
“Carter knows no one in the town he was picked up in.” Malcolm continued, “He has no ties to this aera. He’s spent his whole life in New York City, why would he run almost halfway across the state to a place where he has nothing and knows one?” Frustrated to no end, the profiler was racking his brain almost franticly. What was he missing?  
“Well, Bright, you did say he was impulsive.” Dani reminded him, looking at the car behind them in the rearview mirror once more, “Okay, that’s the third time that guys crossed the line since he’s got behind us. I don’t like the looks of this. I’m pulling him over, I don’t have a breathalyzer, but I can perform just about every other part of the sobriety test. Stay in the car.”  
However, as Dani began to maneuver the car, they were rammed into from behind with a loud thud, then was hit again, this time sending them careening off the road before they had time to react. She tried to pull them out of the skids, but it was no use. The last thing she saw before she felt her head hit something hard as the air bag deployed was the car crashing into a tree. Then everything went back.  
The car that hit them didn’t even slow down. It just kept speeding down the road.  
While all this was happening, in the woods proper, there was girl of about twelve years of age, give or take, with medium length, slightly curly dark hair, dressed from head to toe in camouflage, with a camo painted hunting rifle in her hand. She was crouched, observing the signs of the forest for any signs of game, when she heard what almost sounded like a car skidding, and then a loud thud. “What?” She thought aloud before running towards the noise.  
While Malcolm was still conscious hadn’t been completely spared, his head hitting the side of the car. There were several small cuts from broken glass falling on him. His head was pounding, his vision was blurry, his ears ringing. After processing what had just happened, he managed to free himself from the seat belt and open the car door. He had to get to Dani. Had to get her out. Unfortunately, he fell to the ground in heap and before he knew it, hot bile was pouring down his throat, forcing its way out of his mouth.  
It was that scene the girl came to, bursting to through the trees. She stared at the shattered wreck smashed against the tree, and the man in the suit on the ground, puking his guts on, blood running down the other side of his head. There was a woman in the driver’s seat of the car, from what she could see, she was out cold. Processing what she was seeing one only marginally related through rang in her mind: My aunt and uncle are going to kill me. She was not supposed to go this far out. She wasn’t even really suppose to leave the group. Processing what was happening further, she shook those thoughts away and hurried towards the man on the ground, throwing her gun over her shoulder. “Mister!” She called out, before dropping to the ground next to him, putting a hand on his back, “Mister?” The stranger raised his head, and she could see that one pupil was bigger than the other. And now that she got a good look at him, there was gash in his forehead, blood trickling down the side, “Okay, I’m not sure, but I think you might have a—”  
“Concussion.” Malcolm cut her off a bit longer than he meant too, “Yeah, yeah, I think so, too.” After a beat he added, “Sorry, my ears are still ringing.” He managed to get to his feet with a little help from the girl pushing him, “What were you doing out here?” Then deciding that could wait, rushed to the side of the car, his would-be rescuer hot his heels.  
Malcolm forced the car door open and began to look Dani over. The detective had in her head that matched his and he could see a few bits of glass had fallen from the broken window and were stuck in her cheek. “Dani!” He called out, shaking her, “Dani!” She wasn’t waking up. This couldn’t be good.  
“I have an idea.” The girl said urgently, turning back to the trees and pulling out a large hunting knife from her side, serraided near the end of handle. She pulled it from its sheath and began cutting a large branch, “How attacked are you to that jacket?”  
Malcolm took it off, then realizing it probably wasn’t the best idea to follow the direction of a pubescent child without at least knowing what the idea was. He might be severely concussed, but he still knew that age bracket wasn’t known for their great decision-making skills. “What are you thinking?”  
“My uncle taught me how to make a stretcher.” The girl explained, then pointing towards the woods, continued, “I live that way. It’s about an hour on foot but we can get you two some help. Do you think she’s in shock? Can she be moved?”  
“I’m not a doctor, but I don’t think she’s in shock.” Malcolm answered, beginning to rip his jacket, “But just in case, do you have anything like a blanket?”  
The girl pulled small square out of her pocket. “Here.” She tossed it Malcolm  
After putting a stretcher of wood and shreds of dark fabric together, Malcolm cut Dani free from the car and laid her down on it, placing the sliver colored emergency blanket over her. His newfound companion tied the last few scraps of jacket around her, securing her to the makeshift stretcher. The girl had a feeling this was going to be bumpy. “Alright,” She said, tipping up the end near Dani’s head, “You take that end. I’ll lead the way.”  
Taking the other end, Malcolm began to push as the girl lead the way into the woods, hopping for all their sakes he wasn’t making a mistake.


	2. The Compound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pebbles take Malcolm and Dani back to her family.

And so, the odd pair made their way through the woods, trying to maneuver through the trees. Malcolm’s eyes keep flickering back between the girl leading him and his injured friend through the woods, and Dani. The detective’s breathing was normal and she didn’t seem to be any distress, but she hadn’t regained consciousness the entire time, just making a groan every now and then. Was there some kind of internal injury? She had a headwound, too, what if there was bleeding on the brain?  
And there was the matter of their mysterious young, still yet to be named rescuer. From what Malcolm could tell she looked to be about twelve, thirteen at the most. While for obvious reason he wasn’t taken careful observance of it at the crash site, he could now see that the clothes she was wearing were closer to military style camouflage then they were hunting, and also appeared homemade, or at least not mass produced. The clothes themselves were in varying shades and styles of camo as opposed to a more cohesive uniform. One thing that wasn’t homemade for sure was the honest to God military plate carrier under her jacket. In fact, this girl was decked out as if she was ready for war. Add that to the way she was maneuvering herself and surveying her surroundings, she had defiantly had some sort of tactical training. He was starting to worry if they had accidently stumbled upon some radical paramilitary group , which if they were the kind that were hostile to law enforcement, did not bode well for him or Dani. Also, there just something about the girl that seemed so familiar, but he couldn’t figure out what. Then again, that could be the brain injury talking.   
Between his observation of Dani, his observation of the girl, and feeling oddly fatigued, probably also a result of the concussion, he missed his step, stumble over a rock and nearly sent the whole party careening to the ground before they were able to right themselves. “You alright there, buddy?” The girl asked, once the crisis was adverted.   
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Malcolm told her. In truth, he was feeling oddly fatigued, his vision still just a bit blurry, but he didn’t really think he was there biggest problem at the moment.   
“You’re getting drowsy, aren’t you?” Pebbles questioned.  
“Yeah,” Malcolm admitted, “Yeah, I am.”  
“Come on, let’s sit her down for a minute and I’ll call my uncle.” The girl offered, “They can help us the rest of the way.”  
Suddenly, there was the sound of a radio starting and voice from inside the girl’s jacket franticly saying, “This is Papa Bear to Little Rock, Little Rock, do you copy, over?”  
That was when the girl pulled out a Walkie-Talkie out of her jacket, pulling out the antenna. “This is Little Rock to Papa Bear, I copy, over. We, ah, we got situation out by the highway into town. Some kind of car injuries. No fatalities, but two injured, one unconscious. Could used a little help out here, over.”  
“Stay where you are, over.” ‘Papa Bear’ instructed, “We’re headed your way, I’ll send word when I get closer and you whistle so we can find you. You copy that, over?”  
“Yeah, I copy that, over.” ‘Little Rock’ replied.  
With that the communication was ended, and Malcolm and “Little Rock” carefully sat Dani on the flattest ground they could find before sitting down on either side of her. Looking over to the girl, Malcolm decided to just come out with it. “So, ah, ‘Little Rock’—”  
“Pebbles.” She cut him off, “It’s because my name’s Pebbles. Pebbles Montenegro. And yeah, I know, dumb name.”  
“It’s not dumb.” Malcolm instantly protested, actually meaning it. Sure, ‘Pebbles’ was not a name he would pick out, but it certainly wasn’t dumb.  
“Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean you have to lie to me.” Pebbles told him, “I’m named after rocks.”  
Malcolm had to admit, he was having a hard time coming up with an argument for that one. So he tried a different angle. “Well, I suppose when you turn eighteen, if you feel the same way you can always get it legally changed.  
Pebbles head whirled around. “You can really do that?”  
“Yeah.” Malcolm responded. Worked for me, anyway. “You got any ideas?”  
“Maybe Peggy.” Pebbles answered, “Something that wouldn’t trip up people too much, at least until they get use to it. ” She turned away, looking around for a moment. “So, ah, you have the advantage now.”  
“Right,” Malcolm responded, “I’m Malcolm Bright, and this is Dani Powell.” He momentarily thought about using fake names, but then thought better of it. “So ah, Pebbles, what were you and your dad doing out here?”  
“He’s not my dad.” Pebbles corrected him, before looking off again, “He’s my uncle. We practice maneuvers once a week, me and him and my older cusions while Aunt Ruby stays at home with the baby. I went out far. Further then I should have.” Looking down she added, “They’re going to be so mad.”  
“And, ah, what are the maneuvers for?” Malcolm asked, his heart plummeting and fearing the worst.   
“Just in case.” Pebbles answered, adjusting herself to look at Malcolm, “Uncle Max used to be in National Guard, and he knows this guy who was regular army. “  
“Uh-huh.” Malcolm responded. He had really been hopping for something more. “And when you say just in case…”  
Pebbles looked up at him. “Look, we’re not like---Waco or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking.”  
“Waco?” Malcolm repeated, surprised not only by how casually she said, but the fact that twelve-year-old even knew what that was. He really couldn’t see it coming up in a 6th grade history class.  
“Yeah, you know, a false prophet lead a lot of people to Hell, hurt a lot of kids and gathered a lot of guns doing it, the ATF decided to show boat and act like idiots and invite the news who wound up asking a member of the cult for directions to the compound, which lead to stand off, the FBI acted like idiots, which lead to hundreds of horrible deaths, and for some reason there are still people waiting on the false prophet to come back.” Pebbles surmised, before muttering to herself, “‘Sinful Messiah’. Good grief.”   
In spite of himself, and in spite of the rest of the summery being a bit alarming , Malcolm couldn’t help but smirk at the precocious addendum. Quickly hiding it, he said aloud, “Well, I’ve, ah, never heard it but quite that way before, but, yeah, yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”  
Pebbles glanced around before turning back to Malcolm. “What about you? Where were you two heading?”  
“We were, uh, heading to the next town to take custody of a suspect.” Malcolm answered, peering out into the forest, looking for any sign of help.  
“Suspect?” Pebbles repeated, “You two cops or something?”  
Malcolm was quiet a moment, trying to calculate his response. Even with her assurance that they weren’t “Waco or anything,” he wasn’t entirely how welcome law enforcement would be with Pebbles family.  
“Look, we’re really not anti-government nuts.” Pebbles assured him, stepping over a rock as they walked, “I mean, we don’t nerssacarily like the government, but who does?”  
Malcolm a smirk before saying. “Yes, we’re cops. Well, Dani here’s a cop, I’m a profiler.”  
“You mean like Fox Mulder?” Pebbles responded.  
“Yeah, I suppose, except I don’t go around saying aliens did everything.” Malcolm quipped.  
Pebbles laughed. “So, this guy, what’d he do? Or what do you think he did? I mean, I know you probably can’t tell me a lot because ongoing investigation, but think you can give me the basics?”  
“Robbery homicide and aggravated assault.” Malcolm responded, “And you’re right, I can’t give you much more.”  
The robbery homicide that lead to them being there had been called in three days before. A cashier at a bodega had been found shot dead by the coworker who was supposed to relieve him. It didn’t take them long to find a suspect, as the whole horror had been caught on tape, leading them Eric Carter, a man with two convictions on his sheet already and juvenile record that could take out forest if you printed it out on paper. Malcolm concluded that Carter was not only impulsive, aggressive, and extremely short sighted, but had little regard for people except in terms of what they could do for him. Almost psychopathic. Almost. What happened next more or less confirmed it, as when they finally tracked Carter down, they just missed him, but found a Jane Doe beaten to a bloody pulp, currently in a coma in the hospital. They hadn’t figured out how she was related to Carter, but since the motel room had been his would lead them to believe she knew him. That was when they got the call saying Carter had been apprehended trying to steal a car.  
Malcolm began mulling the facts over again, lost in his own thoughts. Due to his condition, this sent off alarm bells for Pebbles. “Hey, Mal! You still with me?”  
Malcolm shook his head. “Yeah, I just—started thinking about the case again.”  
Suddenly there was noise from the Walkie-Talkie. “Papa Bear to Little Rock, over. Little Rock, do you copy, over?”  
Pebbles spoke into the Walkie-Talkie. “This is Little Rock, I copy, over.”  
“We’re here, we just need an exactly location, over.” Pebbles Uncle told them, “Take your whistle and blow it, over.”  
Pebbles stood up, pulling an emergency whistle from around her neck, and putting it in her mouth, blew three whistles. The universal distress signals.  
Within seconds a teak-skinned man dressed in the same qasi-miltary styles as Pebbles emerged, from the trees, followed by three children, two girls and a boy all with skin the color of coffee with milk, all three dressed like Pebbles and the man. The man, presumably Pebbles’ uncle, went to the stretcher. “Accident, you said?”  
“We were running off the road, possible drunk driver.” Malcolm explained, slurring his words just a bit.  
“He hit his head pretty hard, you might want someone to take it.” Pebbles advised.  
“Alright, Art, you take that side.” The Uncle instructed, pointing towards where Malcolm was, “Pebbles, you found them, you look after the man, Aspen, Etta, you take point, also Aspen—” He threw a walkie talkie to the older of the two girls, “You call your mother, let her know we’re inbound and need emergency medical. And does anything have something we can use as a blindfold?”  
The blindfold, it turned out was meant for Malcolm, which he accepted as it was the least bad option. Pebbles took him by the hand leading him through the woods as he began to count the seconds, trying to take everything else he could. Throughout the roughly thirty trek through the woods, he could hear Aspen on the Walkie-Talkie back and forth with someone who’s call sign was ‘Ruby Rose’, presumably Pebbles’ aunt and the mother of the other children who asked for details on their conditions, telling her she would meet the party at the edge of the property. Finally, they came to a stop. “Get her on first.” A voice he recognized as Ruby Rose’s ordered, and suddenly Pebbles let go of his hand.  
“Hey, ah, a little help here….” Malcolm got out, trying to find his way to where they went.  
“Max, why is that poor man blindfolded?” Ruby asked.  
“You want these two finding their way back where when crap hips the fan?” Max questioned.  
Malcolm smiled in relief as that statement caused everything to fit into place.   
“She said they were cops.” His wife pointed out in strained voice, “You’re going to get us all arrested.” Then she called out, “Pebbles, go get him sweetie.”  
Pebbles took Malcolm by the hand and then with help from someone, pulled him up into a vehicle. The blindfold was removed, and he found himself in the bed of an old blue Chevy Blazer next to Dani, a pale skinned woman kneeling over her.   
“Sorry about that.” Ruby apologized, as she looked over Dani, “Max can get a bit paranoid.”  
“I get it.” Malcolm told her, “You don’t want us heading here when the world goes to Hell looking for food.”  
Ruby looked up at him, surprised. “How did you---”  
“It was when Max started talking about crap hitting hit the fan.” Malcolm told her, “Made it all make sense.”  
Just then Dani started to moan, drawing their attention back to her. Ruby began scrutinizing the dective’s condition, calling out, “ You alright miss? Can you hear me, miss?” Ruby looked up, “What’s her name?”  
“Dani.” Malcolm answered quickly, “Her name’s Dani.”  
“Alright, Dani.” Ruby called out, “Can you hear us? Can you talk to me?” Ruby got no response, but keep inspecting her patient kneeling her sides. “Okay, I’m not seeing any signs of internal bleeding, we’ll need to get her to a hospital to sure. Most of the cuts are superficial, but her cheeks are going to need to switches, same with head. I’m sorry, I’m not—I’m not sure why’s she’s not waking up.”  
In the Blazer it was another fifteen minutes to their actual house. Malcolm had been focused on Dani for most of the trip the house, or more actually fortress was hard not to notice. It was at least two storied, and—and this is the part that made it stand out—made out shipping containers, metal and hunter green and textured like a wavy chip. They were stacked and fused together, some sticking out at odd angles, with square holes cut out in spots for windows, and a door made out of the same metal.  
It was through that door they walked in, pulling a black metal framed futon away from the wall and flattening it. “Put her here.”  
Max and Arthur untie the restraints and Max carefully laid Dani out on the futon.   
“Arthur, go upstairs, I’m going alcohol, clove oil, ointment, tweezers, band-aids, cloth bandages, and surgical thread, needles. Oh, and mushroom tonic.” Ruby ordered urgently, before turning to her niece, “Pebbles, take him to the kitchen, he’s still standing, I’ll deal with him in a minute. There’s a bottle of Jack in the pantry, get started without me. And bring me a bowel of water.”  
Pebbles wordless took Malcolm by the hand, when protested, “No, wait, please let me stay with her, please.” Even though he was sure the family meant them no harm, he couldn’t just leave her alone helpless like this.   
“Alright, sit him down then bring the Jack and the water in here.” Ruby conceded, before whirling around to face her husband. “Max, take the land rover to town, go to the police, let them know what’s happen, get someone up here to fetch these two.”  
“What about—” Max began.  
“Look at them.” Ruby cut him off, “She’s semi-conscious at best, and he’s got blood gushing from the head, they’re not threat to anyone in their conditions, and everyone but Jesse is packing.” After a beat, she looked around reassessing. “On second thought, take Etta and Jesse with you.”  
Max gathered the younger girl, Etta and boy who looked to be about five, heading for the door to do the matriarch’s bidding as Ruby turned to her older daughter. “Aspen, go to the ham radio, try to radio to town or find someone who can get some kind of authority.”  
Aspen nodded, before running out the door.   
While this was going on, Peddles was in the kitchen pantry, a room filled with emptied two-litter bottles filled with grain, mason jars of home canned fruits, vegetables and meat, tubs of freeze dried and just dried food, desperately searching the shelves. “Come on, come on, come on.” She groaned in desperation, looking around every room. At last she saw it, an unopened fifth of Jack Daniels whiskey on the middle shelf in-between two jars of hard cider. “Ha!” She declared in victory, grabbing the bottle and running back into the kitchen towards the sink.  
Meanwhile back in the living, Malcom was sitting rather awkwardly on a square cushion on the floor, watching Ruby examine Dani on the futon. “How is she doing?”  
“Her pulse is still strong, her breathing is still regular.” Ruby said, “No signs of internal bleeding. Might have few scars after this.” She turned her upper body around, “What about you, pet?” She stood and walked over to Malcom.  
“I’m fine, really.” Malcom protested as the woman crouched down across from him.  
“Pebbles said you had concussion.” Ruby pointed out, “before taking a little flashlight out of her pocket and shining it in his eyes. She then put one finger in the air, “Try to follow this.” As she moved her finger back and forth, she began to ask questions, “So, ears still ringing?”  
“No, that stopped in the woods.” Malcolm told her.  
“Vision?” Ruby questioned.  
“Still kind of blurry put mostly cleared up.” Malcolm answered honestly.  
“Anything else I should know about?” Ruby asked pausing her finger a moment to warn him, “And keep in mind, I’m a mom. We know when someone is lying.”  
Malcolm paused a minute, before saying, “My head feels like someone’s beating war drums and I keep getting drowsy. “  
Ruby nodded in understanding. “Pebbles was right, you have a concussion.” She then reached out and took Malcom’s face into a hold before he could protest, examining the gash. Letting go, she leaned away from him before calling out, “Pebbles, sweetie, grab the wooden spoon while you’re in there!”  
“That’s not really necessary.” Malcolm tried to protest, “I have a high threshold for pain.”  
“Don’t doubt that, but you still might want something to bite on.” Ruby said, before standing up and turning her attention back to Dani.   
It was that point Pebbles and Arthur came back from their respected supply runs. “Sit all on the ground right there.” Ruby instructed, pointing in-between her and Malcolm, “Pebbles, you start cleaning him up, Arthur, come help Mommy.”  
Pebbles undid the bottle of whiskey, taking a cloth and first dipping in the bowel of water and then the alcohol. “This is gonna sting.” She warned him before being to clean the cuts.   
It did sting, causing Malcolm to let out a little hiss in spite of himself. Still he offered no resistance as Pebbles carefully swiped at his wound, carefully cleaning away any contaminates from their trek through the woods with deft skill. It was the same way Ruby cleaned Dani’s head wound, which was her biggest concern right now, before taking a small brown bottle and rubbing it around the gash. “Clove oil.” She explained as she did so, knowing she had audience, “Works as a local anesthetic.” Then she dipped the surgical needle into whiskey before thread before starting to sew up the wound.  
Malcom was distracted from his vigil by Pebbles shoving a mason jar filled with brown liquid in his face. “Here, drink some of this.”  
“Don’t worry, it’s just mushroom tonic.” Ruby called back, using the tweezers to carefully remove the glass from Dani’s cheek, “ Chinese medicine. Bost immunity.”  
Malcolm took the offered tonic and took the swig of it. It had something of meaty tase, with something pungent. He momentarily made a face, handed it back to Pebbles. “Thanks.”  
He had come the conclusion that Ruby had been some sort of medical professional before going off good, but he wasn’t sure what. She was old enough she could be a doctor, but with how long it must have took them to get this operation set up she would have to at least still been in residency when they went off grid. Nurse or EMT was more likely. The Chinese herbs through some sort holistic angle into the equation.   
Ruby had almost completely forgot Malcom was there, she was so fixated on Dani. Suturing the headwound and the cheek wounds, putting yarrow-dandelion ointment on the smaller cuts and bandaging, and regularly checking the other woman’s vitals. She couldn’t figure out why Dani was still unconscious. The detective had a strong pulse, and there was nothing wrong with the woman’s breathing, but she just wouldn’t wake up.   
In the kitchen, Malcolm’s eyes glanced over to a children’s alphabet chart on the wall. “So, you’re all homeschooled?”  
Finally she finished her work, looking over to her son. “Arthur honey, let me know when the lady comes round.” Please, dear Lord, let her come round. Picking up the spoon, she stood up and walked over to Pebbles and Malcom. “Pebbles, go see how Aspen’s doing.”  
Pebbles ran outside as Ruby sat herself in front of Malcolm, grabbing the spoon. Holding it out in front of him, she said, “Now, I know you said you had a high threshold for pain, but humor me, will you?”  
Malcolm took the spoon and put the handle in his mouth.  
“Get a good bite on that.” Ruby instructed, taking the clove oil and dabbing it on the wound. “I don’t mind bite marks.” She waited a second then asked, “Ready?”  
Malcolm nodded.  
With that she wordlessly set to work.  
Ruby was right, the clove oil numbed the pain of having a needle jabbed through his flayed skin. As she carefully sutured the cut, Malcolm surveyed the living room. The room was sparsely furnished, just the futon and a series of square patchwork cushions. In the corner of the room there was a large alter-like table above with on the wall was wax crucifix. There was a lavender collared throw blanket with a flowery design separating it from another room off to the side, and an open way to the kitchen was to his right. The walls, which had the same green color and wavy texture of the outside of house, was decorated with the alphabet poster, a laminated cutout of the ten comments, and a print of some kind of impressionist painting, purple irises in a vase. Even though he didn’t think he had seen it before, it was oddly familiar to him. He got that feeling he was missing something again.   
He was also observing his doctor. Ruby Weaver was thin, but in a wiry a sort of way, with parchment white skin and pale blue eyes, constated by raven black hair that she kept cut short. As Pebbles, it was somewhat wavy, though the length of her hair toned the waves down. And again, she clearly knew what she was doing.   
Ruby tied off the sutures. “There we go. That should be the worst of it. You can take the spoon out, now, pet.”  
Malcolm handed her the spoon saying, “Ah, not to sound ungrateful, but would mind not calling me pet?”  
“Sorry, there weren’t exactly time for formal introductions earlier.” Ruby pointed out, “And Pebbles never really gave names.”  
“Fair enough.” He conceded, “Malcolm Bright. The um, woman on your futon is Dani Powell.”  
“Ruby Weaver.” The woman replied, opening a tin of what looked like some sort of homespun ointment, “I’d say nice to meet you, but um---”  
“Same here.” Malcolm agreed, as Ruby applied the ointment to the cuts, “So, I gotta ask, what medical training do you have? I mean, I know you clearly have some, but other than that—"  
“EMT.” Ruby cut him off, continuing to work, “Though I’ve studied and learned a lot more skills. Comes with the territory. Glancing up at her patient a moment, she said, half statement, half question, “So you know a thing or two about prepping?”  
“I wouldn’t say I know something, but I have, um, rather extensive weapons collection back home,” The profiler admitted, “And because of New York state gun laws a lot of preppers go for alternative weapons, so I’ve cross paths with a few people who talked my ear off about the Yellow Stone Super Volcano going off. “After a beat he asked, “Is that your, um---”  
“Yellow Stone Super Volcano, electromagnetic pulse, economic collapse, GMO- induced famine, the New Madrid fault line going off,” Ruby pronounced the town’s name correctly, ‘Mad-rid’ as opposed to ‘Madrid’, “Massive hurricane, massive tornado, second Civil War, World War Three, foreign occupation, democide—Snarknado you know it, we’re trying to be ready for it.” After a beat, she added, “Okay, I was kidding about the Snarknado, but you get the point. We don’t know how the crap is going to hit the fan, just that it’s going to hit.”  
“And you bugged out early to get a head start.” Malcolm guessed.  
“Well, that and the world is just generally crappy even with a super volcano going off.” Ruby replied, bandaging the wounds, “I mean, you’re a cop, right? You’ve seen what’s out there.”  
Malcolm couldn’t argue with that, almost involuntarily thinking about on not just the serial killers he entoured, but the run of the mill one-time murderers, as much as any murder could be called ‘run of the mill’. About the killer they had been trying to retrieve. Eric Carter shot a young man who was cooperating and then beat a woman to a pulp for who knew what reason. He couldn’t help but see Ruby’s point.  
“I can’t say they’re protected from everything up here,” Ruby continued, “But at least I don’t have to worry about them being bullied online until they commit suicide, or being ruffied and raped at some party, or being shot in drive by or trafficked for sex. ” After a moment she said, chuckling nervously, “I’m sorry, I know I must sound like some sort of paranoid Hobbisen lunatic.”  
“No, no, believe it or not I actually get it.” Malcolm assured her, “Though I am rather impressed by the setup, you’ve certainly brought it to an artform. Speaking of which, this might seem like a weird Segway, but can I ask about that painting. I don’t know why but it seems familiar.”  
“It’s a print of Van Gogh’s Irises. “Ruby answered, “It’s from the same collection as Sunflowers. I, ah, use to have a print of that, too, but,” She glanced down sadly for a fraction of a second, “Not anymore.”  
That could explain it. Malcolm thought. Carter’s second victim, the Jane Doe in the coma, had, had a print of Sunflowers folded up in her jacket pocket when she was found. It was clearly own and worn and had been with her for a long time. It meant something to her. But it had to be a coincidence. There’s no way these people were related to their case when they dropped out society years earlier. But the micro expression Ruby had when she talked about the lost Sunflowers print, the sadness. There was a story there….  
Before he could inquire further, Arthur called out, getting their attention. “Mom, the lady’s coming ‘round!”  
Ruby let out a long breath in relief. “Thank you, Lord.” Then she looked at Malcolm, all smiles again. “Alright, I think we’re done here, better go see about your friend.”


	3. Waiting Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Malcolm and Dani wait for rescue, they learn more about their hosts, and Doomsday Prepping.

When Dani first came too, she didn’t know what was going on, just that she could hear someone talking. A child’s voice. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at what looked like a ceiling made of green wavy metal.  
“What?” She groaned, when it started to come back to her. Driving to get Carter, the swerving car, being hit and sliding into the tree, the sharp pain of the airbag hitting her.   
She shot up, which only resulted in her feeling woozy, but the adrenaline pumping through her caused her to ignore it as her head whipped around the room. That was about the time Malcolm and some woman she didn’t recognize came running in from another aera of wherever they were.  
“Whoa, whoa, Dani, it’s okay!” Malcolm exclaimed, crouching down in front of front of her, trying to steady her, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Easy, easy, you were in an accident. We both were. “This was the reverse of their usual dynamic. Time to return the favor, he guessed. “How are you feeling?”  
Dani winced. “Who put rocks in my head? And the rest of my body?” She rubbed at her tender limbs.  
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Malcolm asked her, trying to make sure they were on the same page.  
“Slamming into the tree.” Dani answered, before glancing up, “Bright, where are we?”  
“There was this girl, she found the scene of the accident, took us to her family’s homestead.” Malcolm explained, “Actually more accurately her uncle came and brought us the rest of the way. Fortunately, Mrs. Weaver here,” He gesutured to Ruby, “Is an EMT.”  
While Dani understood what the profiler had said, she was left with a dozen or so questions. “Homestead?” She knew they weren’t in the city anymore, but still the term ‘homestead’ didn’t really seem to fit.   
“The Weavers live something of an alternative lifestyle.” Malcolm explained, “They’re doomsday preppers.”  
“Doomsday preppers?” Dani repeated, getting it, but finding it hard to process so much information at one time, especially when there were still a lot of gaps, “You mean like those rich guys who build bunkers?”  
“Actually, we spent most of our savings going off grid, so, not that rich.” Ruby told her, gesturing towards the kitchen with her finger as she added, “Though we do actually have a bunker connected to the house from the kitchen, just in case. “  
Dani looked to Malcolm her face silently asking, Are we in danger here?  
Before Malcolm could answer, Ruby shoved a mason of jar of a brown liquid concoction in Dani’s face. “Here, love. Take a sip. It’s alright, it’s just mushroom tonic. It helps fight off infection.”  
Dani glanced down at the jar, skeptically to put it mildly. She was grateful for the rescue but she wasn’t about to just take some unknown homebrew off a woman she literally met a few seconds before.  
“I drunk some earlier, so far I haven’t died.” Malcolm assured her.  
Dani took the jar and took a swing, making a face not unlike the one Malcolm made and handing the jar back, “Thanks.”  
Ruby crouched down in front of where Dani was sitting. “Just want to do a few rudimentary tests.” She told the detective before holding up two fingers, “How many fingers and I holding up?”  
“Two.” Dani answered, before tilting her head, “Bright, what about you?”  
“Slight concussion.” Malcolm admitted, “I’ll be fine.”  
Dani looked over to Ruby, with a look that say, Will he be fine?  
“He’ll be fine once we get him to an actual hospital.” Ruby told her, going for her flashlight and shining in in Dani’s eyes, “Until then, best to keep him awake. I’m more worried about you. You were out for a while there, love. Any headaches, nausea, blurred vision, ringing in your ears, drowsiness, trouble focusing or remembering, feeling like you want to punch a wall but now sure why?”  
“No, none of that.” Dani answered, shaking her head, “Listen, we need to let the rest of our team know what’s happened—”  
“My husband went to town to get someone up here to ketch you two, which should take about half an hour, and I got my girls trying to get someone on the CB radio who can help.” Ruby reassured her, before putting up the flashlight, “Now, do you know your name?”  
“Dani Powell.” The detective answered.  
“What year is it?” Ruby asked.  
“2019.” Dani answered.  
Satisfied, Ruby declared, “You seem okay, just give me a minute to put these away, and then we can see if the girls have gotten anywhere.” Picking up an armful of medical supplies as she stood up, she to look at her oldest son, “Art, start on your social studies, the girls will be in here in a minute.”  
“But Mom—” Arthur began to protest.  
“And why don’t you help yourself to some corn while you’re at it.” Ruby cut him off, “You were a good assistant.”  
That seemed cut the sting of not being able to come along, and he hurried over to the aera cordoned off by the throw and pulled it back, revealing another food storage pantry.  
As Ruby ascended the stairs, Dani watched as Arthur combed through the storage for the corn, her eyes scanning what she could make out from here she was sitting. “Is that meatloaf in a mason jar?”  
Dani was right. Nestled in neatly in-between rows and rows of home canned food, were several clear jars of small brown meat loaves covered in gravy.  
“Venison meatloaf.” Arthur answered, pulling down a jar clear plastic barrel of dried corn, “We put some away every deer season. Just got done canning last week. Well, done for now. The apple and pears are about ready to harvest. I don’t know if you noticed them, but---”  
“To be honest I wasn’t paying that close attention.” Malcom admitted.  
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Arthur commented, “Listen, Etta’s going to when she gets back anyway, so are you to a---you know----”  
“No!” The pair exclaimed almost simultaneously.   
“No.” Dani repeated.  
“No, we’re—” Malcolm began.  
“We’re friends.” Dani insisted.  
“Just friends.” Malcolm agreed.  
“Okay.” Arthur shrugged it off, “Either of you want some.” He gestured to the corn.  
“No thank you.” Malcolm responded, still feeling the concussion and knowing he likely wouldn’t be able to keep anything on his stomach.  
“No thanks.” Dani agreed, before turning her attention back to Malcolm and lowering her voice so that Arthur wouldn’t be able to hear, “Bright, are we okay here or do we need an escape plan?”  
Malcolm shook his head. “The parents have paranoid, particularly the husband, and they practice hyper redundancy, but nothing clinical. And I’ve peen repeatedly assured this isn’t , ‘like Waco or anything’.”  
Dani gave him a look, but decided to go with his judgement on this one.   
Just then, Ruby came back down the stair saying, “Alright, let’s go.”  
The trio walked out onto a wide-open green landscape dotted with small trees and bushes gated in with tires. A few inches away from the house stood the girls, operating a set of black boxes with black or red knobs and switches, which was set upon a gray metal trash can, Pebbles talking into the speaker while Aspen turned the knobs, “Breaker, breaker, does anybody hear me out there?”  
“I take it that means you haven’t had any luck.” Ruby commented.  
“No.” Aspen confirmed as they turned around.  
Pebbles face lit up when she saw the strangers. “She’s up! How is she? Is---”  
“According to your mom, she should be fine.” Malcolm assured her, just a little banged up. “ Glancing between everyone she said, “Dani, this is Pebbles, she’s the one who found us, and her cusion—Aspen, right?”  
Aspen nodded.  
“Thanks, kids.” Dani told them, “We both really owe you one.” Between how isolated they had been, the fact that she had just been unconscious until a few minutes ago, and while standing, Malcolm wasn’t in the best of shape, the detective knew that if someone hadn’t found them, their chances wouldn’t have been good.  
Pebbles grinned bashfully, looking down. “It was nothing.”  
That was Ruby took over. “Right, we’ll take it from here, get inside, get started on your history. There’s still things that need to be done. That means, A Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, chapter six through eight. But first, you can have some corn, Arthur’s already getting it out.”  
Aspen appeared somewhat reluctantly, but ran for the house, while Pebbles, stood there, looking unsure.  
“That means, you too.” Ruby told her, reaching out and running her fingers through her niece’s dark locks as she said, “You shouldn’t have gone off like that, and we will be talking about that once we get this all sorted, but you did good saving these two.”  
Pebbles smiled, then ran towards the house, following her cusion.  
“Can I ask why all your kids are getting so excited about corn?” Dani requested.  
“Dried corn is basically prepper candy.” Malcolm spoke up, “It’s suppose to be really sweet.”  
“One of the sweetest things you’ll ever taste.” Ruby confirmed, focusing her attention on the CB radio, working the nobs, “Learn that from weapon-shopping acquaintances?”  
“Yes.” Malcolm confirmed, “Mrs. Weaver, is there anything we can do to help---"  
“First, off, Mrs. Weaver is my mother-in-law,” The woman cut him off good-naturedly, “It’s Ruby, please. And I’m sorry, to say, unless you know how to operate a ham radio, not really. Though, if one of you would take this—” She held out the receiver, “It would free up my hands.”  
As Malcolm took the receiver from Ruby, who began using both hands to turn the knobs, both Malcolm and Dani’s eyes scanned the aera. The land went on for acres, the woods they had traveled through to get here nowhere to be seen. What could be seen was doted with all sorts of contraptions: A gray metal water pump, several tan barrels with little tubes under which were small metal pans, and across from where they were, closer to the house, what appeared to be a refrigerator, of all things. There also a series of small plants framed by tires, some bushes, serval of them bursting with berries, but what caught their eyes more so were the strange little trees everywhere. They were strange in that, one they weren’t that big, each one maybe about eight or nine feet tall, and they appeared to be growing multiple types of fruit at one time. There were pears in yellow-green, dark green, brown. Apples in red and darker red, but also yellow. But the one that stood out the most was the one covered in Nectarines and peaches and plums and apricots.  
“Mrs. Weav—Ruby,” Malcolm spoke up first, unable to keep his curiosity in check, “Can I ask about that trees?”  
“How do they have four different fruits on one tree?” Ruby smirked knowingly. They weren’t the first to ask. “They’re specially grafts I found in this catalogue back when we were doing the urban prepper thing. Back then our re-supply consisted a bunch of mushroom kits we kept the closet in a dwarf three-in-one citrus tree in the living room—both we still have in the house by the way. Well, obviously not the same the kits, this was years ago---” She paused working at the knobs, “Anyway, they’re good for saving on space.”  
All was quiet for a moment, then Dani asked the big question. “Can I ask---why did you guys do all this? Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just---I get being prepared, I mean, I have a little over the recommended three days at my place, but—dropping out of society, growing your own food, setting up a wind turbine—” Sher unconsciously glanced up at the metal turbine that was on the roof.  
Ruby leaned against the radio for a moment, forming her thoughts. “You want the long version or the short version?” There was a moment of silence, the before either could answer, she said, “Well, there is a medium-length version. I always a bit of , I guess you could say a worry-wort, had to be the way I grew up, and that’s all I’m getting into with that so don’t ask, but , and, this is going to be sound so cliché—I officially became prepper after nine eleven. I was sixteen, and I couldn’t turn off the news, which is ironically is what all the message boards warned me against, and when that second tower went down--- something just snapped inside.”  
Dani and Malcolm nodded in understanding, the air suddenly become thick. “My grandmother turned off the TV before that happened, but where we were—everyone could still the smoke. We all thought---” Her voice trailed off.  
Ruby’s heart jumped into her throat and a stricken look crossed her face, “I’m sorry, were you ---”  
Dani nodded. Both women glanced over at Malcolm, afraid to pry, but still wondering.  
“I was—well, I guess you call it lucky.” Malcolm said, “I was—away at school, they were pretty good at keeping what happened from us until parents started showing up. Suddenly everyone wanted to be with their families, before---well, we didn’t know what. That look on my Mother’s face, I’m only seen a few times before.”   
Dani’s eyes glanced towards him, she could probably guess the times he was referring to, but wasn’t going to say it, and Ruby knew whatever it was wasn’t her business.   
There tension was thick and dark for a moment, before Ruby finally said, “ With Max it was Katerina. He went down with this volunteer roof, had to punch out this creep who tried to rape a girl in one of those contesters. After that, he wasn’t about to trust the government to take care of anything. Anyway, I met Max through a mutual friend, the one who taught me everything I know Chinese medicine, actually. Next thing either us know, we’re married, storing away too much food and ammo in this cramped little apartment, when one day---I had a really bad day. Got a call out, this –kid---he couldn’t have been more than nine, he was—covered in cuts and bruises, and his---his so called mother had broke his spine.” She let a bitter huffed, “The hussy tried to tell the cop that he had fallen off a swing. Can you believe that? Of course, why wouldn’t she? I was friends with this nurse at the hospital, and she told me that she would bring him in every few weeks saying he fell off a swing. She knew they knew it wasn’t true and they did their duty, called CPS, they never did dang thing. Meanwhile, the friend I mentioned, this local shrew with a history of making nuisance calls reported her because she didn’t like how she was holding her youngest when she was taking him out of her oldest son’s football game because the kid was having tantrum and she was afraid he’d hurt someone, and CPS pulled out all the stops. Her oldest? The football the player? They actually showed up unannounced at his school, pulled him out of class, and brow-beat the kid, trying to get him to say his parent caused an injury he got at the game, they had to threaten to sue to get them to back off. I know they have to at least look into it, but I can’t help but think if they had put half the effort they put into persecuting my friend into investing that monster that just happened to have the ability to conceive a child, that boy might be able to walk today.”  
Ruby paused a moment, fiddling with the buttons. “Anyway, I get home, first there’s a message from my sister asking for bail money, but that’s whole nother story, and I get sick—like sick to my stomach and next thing I know I’m doing the only math a woman does over a toilet, well, maybe not the only math, so I go get the test and the test has two pink lines and I’m crying because I don’t know how I’m going to raise a child in a world on the brink that’s already crap enough as it is, and Max wraps his arm around me and whispers, ‘let’s do it’. We had talked about it a couple of times before, but this was the first time we really started plans. So, we did it. Emptied out our accounts, bought eighty acres, built that house back there from the ground up, I helped until I was too pregnant to bend over or carry anything. Started growing our food, supplying our own power, making our own clothes,” She tugged at the sleeve or her camo shirt, “Only going to town about once or twice a year, if that for the things we just can’t make on our own—toothbrushes, toothpaste, certain medicines.”  
No one spoke for a moment, when suddenly a strange little creature came strutting across their path. A small, chicken-shaped bird covered with white fur-like fluff, with black chicken feet.  
“What are you going out here?” Ruby asked, picking up the creature, “You’re not suppose to be here.”  
“Is that a—chicken?” Dani asked, baffled. Malcolm looked at the creature, befuddled at well. One thing he wasn’t an expert on was niche chicken species.  
“Silkies.” Ruby explained, “ Docile, consistent layers, the only downside is, they’re so cute it’s kinda hard to kill ‘em. We got a whole flock of them over that way.” She pointed towards the watch, “Did you think fruit and mushrooms were all we got going? No, we got chickens, goats, rabbits, corn, a root vegetable garden, root vegetables don’t grow all that well in a hydroponic system, and oh, yeah, the hydroponic system.”  
“Hyro-what?” Dani asked, once again at lost.  
“You don’t know what a hydroponic system is?”   
The three adults turned to see Aspen standing outside, with Pebbles and Arthur behind her.  
“How long have you three been standing there?” Malcolm questioned, worried they had heard some their mother’s soul-bearing.   
“Not long.” Pebbles answered.  
Aspen, however didn’t seem to notice the Segway. “Oh my gosh, you have to see it. Mom, can I go show it to them? Please?”  
Ruby looked at the pair. “ Aspen’s our little science geek. She’s helped set up all the gadgets around here.” After a pause she asked, “Would you mind? I can do this by myself and clearly no work’s getting done in there.” She hated unloading her kids on her guest, but clearly, they weren’t going to be swayed.  
Malcolm smiled. “Lead the way.”  
Ruby held out the wayward chicken. “But, do me a favor? Drop this little guy off along the way.”  
After dropping the chicken back off that the coup, the children lead Malcolm and Dani past the root garden Ruby mentioned, bee hives, and set of solar panels. Eventfully they came to field lined with leafy greens, cucumber, tomatoes, herbs, and pools of water, some topped with a foamy green plant, others filled with pale tilapia.  
“So, this a ---” Dani began, genuinely impressed, but not entirely sure what she was looking at.  
“Hydroponic system.” Aspen cut her off, her eyes bright with excitement, “Yeah, the duckweed we grow feed the fish, which we eat, and the fish poop fertilizes the plant, so it’s two food sources in one. And the algae that’s created by the system can be distilled for bio-deasil, and that system leaves glycerin behind that can be used for soap.”  
Dani’s eyes moved across the landscape, staring at the length of flats. “Not to be rude, but, um, how do you pay for all of this?”  
“Uncle Max is a carpenter.” Pebbles called out, running through the field with her cusions, “He and bunch of his buddies build spec houses on the side, and there’s a farmer’s market a few towns over once a year, Aunt Ruby sells trinkets and baked goods at that. Etta’s been helping her for the last couple of years. And we sell the excess power from the solar panels.”  
“And that supports all this?” Dani wondered aloud to herself softly, still unconvinced.  
“Well, think about it,” Malcolm spoke up, “This prep alone provides food, fuel, and soap, you heard Ruby they have food sources, they’re making their own power, their own clothes. Kinda cuts down on the bills.”  
Dani subtly looked her friend over. Something about the way he was looking at the scene brought a possibility to her mind. “Bright, I’m going to ask you a serious question? You haven’t ever thought about…going off the grid, have you?”  
Malcolm couldn’t help but laugh. “No, no, I never thought of taking it that far. No, I just---I get the appeal.”  
Dani considered Malcolm for a moment. “You know, I actually can see it. In another life, you in the middle of nowhere, beard and gun telling people to get off your land. Your own, probably much smaller, hydroponic system, training that bird of you to carry messages.”  
Malcolm laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t think you can train a parakeet to do that. Anyway, I don’t even keep the recommended three days of food. No, if something does happen, I’m probably going to wind up trying to hunt squirls in the park with my knives and pistols.”  
Dani smiled coyly. “I’ll make you deal. Whenever the big earthquake, or invasion or zombie Apocalypse happens, I grab my food, you grab your weapons, we meet up and escape New York for somewhere safer. Whatever safe is then.”  
Malcolm smiled back. “You got yourself a deal.”  
That was when they heard it. Something clicking, like windchimes, and dogs barking, causing both of them to start looking around. “Where are the kids?” Dani asked, realizing they were gone.  
That’s when they heard Pebbles screaming.


	4. What The Others Are Up To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gil and TJ discover what happened to Malcolm and Dani, and that that's actually the least of their problems.

“What do you mean he escaped?!” Gil exclaimed, knowing full well what the chief meant, but scarcely believing what he was hearing.

Gil and TJ had just arrived at the station, but instead of finding their perpetrator ready for transport as they were expecting, they found a deputy icing his head and the chief trying to mustard a manhunt out of a police force of six. It was a really small town.

And Dani and Malcolm were still nowhere to be found.

“You want to tell them what did, Jerry?” The chief, a portly, older, blading man requested harshly, sounding rather exasperated as he looked over to a strapping young man with visible vein his arms holding an ice pack to his head. “Well, he started acting sick , said he was gonna puke, asked to use the bathroom, and when I got the keys and took him out, he knocked me out.” Jonah recounted, “Next I think I know I’m waking up with chief Johnson standing over me looking like he wants to kill me.”

“Ah, you do know there’s a toilet in the cell?” TJ pointed out, his cell out still trying to reach their missing team members. They had noticed they had lost them on the road, but assumed they would catch up eventually. When that never happened and they realized they couldn’t get either Malcolm or Dani on their phones, they started worrying. Gil, meanwhile, shot the chief a look, as if to if to say, _Please tell me he’s diligent in his work at least._

The Chief meanwhile, rubbed his forehead, shooting his brother policeman an apologetic, embarrassed and exasperated glance.

With that out of the way, Gil got right down to business. “Alright, what do you need from us?” He knew this wasn’t his truf, so he conceded to the chief’s instruction.

That was when they walked in. A dark-skinned man with two children, a girl who way maybe about ten, her inky hair in pigtails, and a boy of about five, holding tight to his hand. “Excuse me,” The man began, walking up to the front the desk, which no one was actually tending to because of the current situation, “I need to talk to someone. There’s a bit of situation out on my land.” The chief walked up to the desk. “Look, ah, Mr.—” It was then he realized that, while he had seen the man in town a few times, he didn’t actually know his name. “Weaver.” The man told him, “Listen, ah, my niece found this accident out on the road. A couple of cops apparently….”

That got the New York Policemen’s attention. “These cops, they wouldn’t happen to be a woman with really curly hair and a skinny guy in a suit, would they?” TJ asked.

“Yes, actually.” Max confirmed, “They’re your people?” The last part was half question, half statement. TJ nodded as Gil asked, “You said it was an accident, are they---” “The man was banged up, but seemed okay when I left , but the woman was unconscious.” Max answered, “At least when I left. Look, I just need someone to come out and get them.”

Gil’s heart dropped into his stomach. What the man was saying didn’t sound good. As much as he wanted to go to them, there was murderer on the loose. And it sounded like what they needed was medical attention. “Chief, I know the first priority is finding Carter, but if we could get paramedics out to Weaver’s land—”

“I’ll call it in.” Chief Johnson cut him off, urgency in his voice, “In the meantime—I’m assuming you know how to set up a roadblock?” After a beat he added, “I’ve had the training, but I’ve ever actually had to—”

“Come on,” Gil said, walking off with the man.


	5. Summations And Other Unfortunate Events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malcolm and Dani discover why Carter came to the area as Pebbles' world is shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Bad case of writer’s block. Knew where I wanted to go, but got lost on the way. Sorry. Late Happy Thanksgiving and early Merry Christmas! God bless .

Dani and Malcolm rushed through the grounds, Dani trying to find something that could be used a weapon. ‘Where’s my gun?”

Malcolm’s heart dropped as he realized, “I think it might have got left at the crash site.”

“What?!” Dani balked.

“Well, I was out of it, Pebbles didn’t know and it wasn’t exactly high priority at the moment—” Malcolm pointed out.

Just then they heard Pebbles screamed again.

They were already running but that made them pick up their pace. That was also when the twins came running into view. That was when Malcom had an idea. “Do either of you still have your guns?”

Arthur pulled out a handgun and Dani reached out, taking it as Aspen handed Malcolm a riffle.

“Alright, now, get somewhere safe, hunker down and wait for us. "Dani instructed urgently.

“But what about—” Arthur began to protest.

“Listen to her.” Malcolm insisted.

That seemed to end the argument, and the kids legged it to a nearby shed.

Meanwhile, Pebbles was struggling with sinewy man with short clipped brown hair as two rottweilers jumped him, biting into his arm while another bitt into his hands. “Damn dogs!” He hissed, kicking the one on his leg.

Pebbles ducked down, slipping out of his grasp and pulling his arm as hand as he could, admitting a scream from her attacker. “Son of a---”

Pebbles jumped away, pulling her gun and pointing it at him. “On the ground! Hands in the air!”

The man began to comply, smiling and chuckling ruefully. “That anyway to treat your old man?”

Pebbles froze at that. “What?”

“You’re Pearl Montenegro’s kid, right?” The man responded.

“So, I’m told.” Pebbles responded, “What’s it to you?”

Just then they could hear two sets of running footsteps, causing Pebbles to look back towards the sound.

“Listen, they catch me, I’m gonna go to jail.” The man said, “You don’t want your dad to go away, do you?”

Pebbles shifted uncomfortably. “Who knows who my dad is? My mom’s a party girl who hops from bed to bed pratically every night.” No one had ever said so in front of her, but she heard things when people thought they were out of earshot. Plus she was old enough to put some things together.

“I wasn’t sure at first either.” The man responded, “Now that I’m here---look, give me a chance, I can explain but we need to go now.”

Pebbles looked back and could see Malcolm and Dani coming into view. Then she looked back to the man claiming to be the father she never knew and kept his gun trained on him, ordering through gritted teeth, “Don’t move.”

The man glared at her. “Just like your mother.”

Malcolm and Dani ran up, Dani momentarily distracted when she saw who Pebbles had at gun point. “Carter?”

“You know this jerk?” Pebbles asked.

“Yeah, he’s out suspect.” Malcolm answered, “Pebbles, are you alright?”

“Pebbles?” Carter repeated, “What sort of name is that? Pearlie was always a stupid bitch!”

“Hey!” Pebbles shouted, shoving the gun at him, “Don’t talk about my Mom that way!” She eyed Malcolm, “And yeah, I’m fine. Except for this freak trying to say he’s my dad!”

A knot formed in Malcolm’s stomach as it all clicked together finally. “We need to talk to your aunt. _Now_. “

While this conversation was happening, Dani was cuffing Carter. “Eric Carter, you are under arrest for murder, aggravated assaulted and attempted murder, and attempted kidnapping.”

“I can’t kidnap my own kid!” Carter protested as he was raised up.

Meanwhile, Ruby was walking around the property with a riffle in her hands-on high alert. After the kids had found her and told her what happened, she stowed them away in the cellar before going after her niece and the others herself. Not knowing for sure who all would be hearing, she didn’t call out, but kept her head on a swivel, looking for any sign of them. That was when she saw them: Pebbles walking next to Malcolm and Dani pushing a man she had never seen before. The man sneering and cursing, Dani and Pebbles both wearing scowls and Malcolm looking very, very concerned. Feeling sick to her stomach, Ruby rushed to meet them. “Are you okay? What happened? Who’s he?”

“We’re fine.” Malcolm assured her. _Well, physically anyway._ If he was right on what he though was happening here, Pebbles was about to have a rough road ahead of her. Even if he wasn’t, nearly being kidnapped by a rampaging almost psychopath was a nice little bit of trauma and emotional scaring.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Pebbles agreed, not sounding fine at all.

“Believe it or not, this is the guy we were coming up here to bring in.” Dani spoke up, “Hasn’t been really chatty about how we got here. You got a place we can stash him?”

“I have an idea.” Ruby said, “Follow me.” Then her eyes landed on her niece. “Pebbles, get back to the house.”

This time Pebbles obeyed without complaint. As Ruby led the others, Malcolm whispered to her, “We need to talk about your sister.”

And so, after stashing Carter in the smoke house, Ruby told the pair about her sister. “Pearl’s always been a hot mess.” Ruby began, “Drinking, drugs, after I left home, we were in and out of each other lives. Then, me and Max moved up here, I’m out to here with the twins and---Pearlie just shows up here a newborn. I didn’t even know she was pregnant.”

“Did she tell you who the father was?” Dani asked.

“She said she didn’t know.” Ruby admitted, “ She stayed for two weeks. I thought that maybe she might finally be turning things around. That we might be able to turn things around. But then she left in the middle of night. Leaving Pebbles.”

“And taking your _Sunflowers_ printout with her.” Malcolm guessed.

Ruby nodded. “ Ever since she’s been in and out Pebbles’ life. Even took her for a bit. That didn’t exactly go well. After that incident I put my foot down and stopped letting her come around. I had my kids to think about. All of them.” After a beat, she asked. “Do you really think the woman in the hospital could be her?”

“I’m sorry.” Malcolm told her, sincerely.

Ruby rubbed her head in her hands. This couldn’t be happening. How was she going to tell Pebbles?

What they didn’t know was, Pebbles had snuck out of the house and was currently listening to everything from behind the smokehouse, listening to everything. Everything. For a moment, everything seem to blur as she processed the information. There could be some truth to what this guy was saying? That he was her dad?

But he also attacked her mother.

It sounds like he _killed_ her mother.

_My mom’s dead._ Pebbles thought. _But she can’t be—she can’t—_ Even though she wasn’t really in her life, it felt like something was ripping inside of her.

“Do you…do you know if she’s going to make it or not?” Ruby was asking. “

We honestly don’t know.” Malcolm admitted as delicately as he could, “But last time we talked to her doctors, they said there was still brain activity. She might have a chance.”

“Ruby would you mind coming to city to make an identification?” Dani asked.

“Of course.” Ruby nodded. Just then they were interrupted by another scream. This time filled with rage.

They all turned and finally saw Pebbles behind the smokehouse. Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Ruby asked, worried, “Honey, how much of that did you hear?”

“Enough.” The girl declared, before turning and running.

“Pebbles, wait, please!” Ruby called out doing after her.

“Go after her.” Dani ordered, “I got eyes on Carter.”

Malcolm didn’t have to be told twice. He took after Ruby and Pebbles, calling out the young girl’s name.

Pebbles heard them calling out for her, but didn’t respond as she made it to the edge of the woods. Whipping her eyes, she glanced back before bolting into the forest.

That was when the sirens filled the air.

**Author's Note:**

> AN: What do you think? Love it? Hate it? You know where to go!


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